A Blizzard Of Snow Geese
March 26th, 2016
Every spring and every fall, migrating Snow Geese amass in fields east of Ottawa: sometimes thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, sometimes over a hundred thousand. It's a brief window, especially in spring, and the rest of the year you'll be hard-pressed to see a single Snow Goose.
I've been wanting to capture the spectacle on camera for years. So last Wednesday I headed out to the Cobb's Creek floodplain, one of the two floodplains where waterfowl habitually mass each spring. (Directions: drive east down Russell Road approximately forever. When you see a whole lotta water and a whole lotta birds, stop.) For a space of about a week, the creek floods and the surrounding farmer's fields turn into a massive shallow lake. The resulting habitat is highly attractive to Snow Geese, and also to Northern Pintail ducks, another bird you'll be hard-pressed to see if you miss that narrow window.
The flood had already dramatically receded in the two days since I was last there. I camped out by the roadside and hoped that a raptor scare (an eagle or falcon, say) would flush the flock and maybe bring them closer to the road--or at least create more interesting photos.
I was not disappointed. Within about fifteen minutes of my arrival, the entire mass of geese rose from the water.
(Since these kinds of photos can't really be appreciated at low res, clicking on any of them will open a fullscreen version.)
Their arc was so wide, it carried some of them nearly over my head.
Settling back in:
March 26th, 2016
Every spring and every fall, migrating Snow Geese amass in fields east of Ottawa: sometimes thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, sometimes over a hundred thousand. It's a brief window, especially in spring, and the rest of the year you'll be hard-pressed to see a single Snow Goose.
I've been wanting to capture the spectacle on camera for years. So last Wednesday I headed out to the Cobb's Creek floodplain, one of the two floodplains where waterfowl habitually mass each spring. (Directions: drive east down Russell Road approximately forever. When you see a whole lotta water and a whole lotta birds, stop.) For a space of about a week, the creek floods and the surrounding farmer's fields turn into a massive shallow lake. The resulting habitat is highly attractive to Snow Geese, and also to Northern Pintail ducks, another bird you'll be hard-pressed to see if you miss that narrow window.
The flood had already dramatically receded in the two days since I was last there. I camped out by the roadside and hoped that a raptor scare (an eagle or falcon, say) would flush the flock and maybe bring them closer to the road--or at least create more interesting photos.
I was not disappointed. Within about fifteen minutes of my arrival, the entire mass of geese rose from the water.
(Since these kinds of photos can't really be appreciated at low res, clicking on any of them will open a fullscreen version.)
Their arc was so wide, it carried some of them nearly over my head.
Settling back in:
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Mike
March 26th, 2016 at 9:11 am
Nice shots... the swoop of landing geese is an interesting catch, and the panoramic does a good job of conveying the idea of just how many geese we're talking about here.
mustangsallie
March 27th, 2016 at 6:57 pm
Wow....that is indeed a spectacular sight!
mustangsallie
March 27th, 2016 at 6:59 pm
Did the ones over your head happen to drop any unwelcome presents on you?
Suzanne
March 27th, 2016 at 8:00 pm
Fortunately, no! :-)